Railways spent a meagre one paise of each rupee earned by it during 2002-03 on development and another two paise on special railway safety fund as bulk of the income of the world's largest network was used for salaries and wages.

While 31 paise of each railway rupee spent was for wages and other allowances of the staff, 17 paise was spent on fuel, according to the Railway Budget 2004-05 presented by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in Parliament on Tuesday.

The Railways spent 14 paise of each rupee earned on pension fund and eight paise on lease charges.

On the income side, railways earned as much as 62 paise of each rupee from the goods traffic earnings followed by 29 paise from passenger earnings during 2002-03, Yadav said in the Lok Sabha.

Railways also earned four paise of each rupee from miscellaneous income, two paise from other coaching earnings and three paise from sundry earnings.

According to Railway Budget, the government spent six paise of each rupee earned towards depreciation reserve fund during 2002-03 and six paise for paying dividend and accounted 10 paise towards miscellaneous epenses.